RIEdel

"Koibun" Where is the PX? ~The story told by Yukio Mishima~

Now, the Togaki Building in Higashiginza has a signboard of Cinema Kabuki "Iwashi Urikoi Hikiami", which is scheduled to be screened from June 4. It is a love story like a fairy tale of a prostitute who fell in love with fate, but it was actually Yukio Mishima who wrote the original story.

 "Koibun" Where is the PX? ~The story told by Yukio Mishima~

Yukio Mishima is said to have written six Kabuki plays in his lifetime, but I was embarrassed to find the word "Yukio Mishima" on the signboard of "Sardine Net" and I was surprised to find the word "Original Yukio Mishima".

"Hashizukushi" winds your tongue around Mishima's storytelling

Hey, Yukio Mishima.…When I whispered, I tried to cross Harumi-dori St. north, that is, from the side of the Togaki Building to the side of the Ginza Shochiku Square Building, it suddenly came to my mind that Yukio Mishima's novel "Hashizukushi".
Toshin Beltway, the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway runs beside the Tokei Building.
Proceeding about 400m northeast along the Metropolitan Expressway Loop Line, you will reach the rare Y-shaped bridge "Miyoshi Bridge" in front of Chuo-ku government office.
And the Miyoshi Bridge is the first bridge that appears in Yukio Mishima's novel "Hashizukushi".

 "Koibun" Where is the PX? ~The story told by Yukio Mishima~

A stone monument built in the northwest corner of Miyoshi-bashi Bridge

 "Koibun" Where is the PX? ~The story told by Yukio Mishima~

You can confirm the name of the bridge that appears in "Hashizukushi"

The main stream of the Tsukiji River, which flows from left to right at the bottom of the figure, is the current Metropolitan Expressway Loop Line. The Togaki Building is located at the lower right corner of the book.
The novel "Hashizukushi" is a story in which four women wish to cross seven bridges over the Tsukiji River on a full moon night on August 15th in the lunar calendar.
A small incident occurs while walking along a route of only 1 km, leaving one or two.
Yukio Mishima's storytelling is skillful, such as the development that does not know who will succeed in crossing the bridge until the end and the surprise of Ochi, and it is a work that attracts you.

"Koibun" Which PX does it appear?

Speaking of Yukio Mishima, I learned in a newspaper article that his long-buried novel (so-called ultra-short novel) had recently been found.
His fictional novel was called "Koibun."
When a man called "branch manager" tried to take out a handkerchief at a banquet, he found an envelope that was unknowingly inside. "I'll be waiting for you in front of 5 p.m. PX tomorrow. There was a piece of paper written as X-ko. Who sent this love sentence to Kemmotsu branch manager?
From memos indicating the existence of the meeting partner, the human pattern surrounding the branch manager is beautifully developed in the number of characters less than one manuscript paper. This is also a work where Yukio Mishima's storytelling technology shines even more.
By the way, when I read in a newspaper the message "I'll wait for you in front of PX" written in this mysterious love sentence, I came up with a question in me.
PX is an abbreviation for Post Exchange and originally refers to a shop located in a U.S. military base.
After the war, a large number of commercial facilities were seized by the troops in Japan, and it has a history of being used as PX for US soldiers. In Tokyo, Hattori Clock Store (now Wako) in Ginza 4-chome, Matsuya Main Store in Ginza 3-chome, Shirakiya in Nihonbashi, and Sogo Osaka Main Store in Osaka, and Daimaru Department Store in Kobe were requisited as PX. In other words, PX existed in cities all over Japan.
The novel "Koibun" was written in 1949. It was a time when PX existed everywhere in Japan, and if you knew it (what kind of PX would this woman designate as a meeting place?) The question arises very naturally.

 "Koibun" Where is the PX? ~The story told by Yukio Mishima~

Matsuya Ginza Main Store around 1946
Source: From the National Diet Library Digital Collection "Photographs by Mr. Moger"

So, I really wanted to elucidate the mystery, and I bought a literary magazine "Shincho", which contains Yukio Mishima's "Koibun".

 "Koibun" Where is the PX? ~The story told by Yukio Mishima~

By the way, what is your impression of reading the novel Koibun?…
(Hmm, again, Yukio Mishima's shiteyalareta!)

Why shiteyalaleta! If you are worried about it, please read "Koibun" yourself and check it out.

Access Information

■To-gaki
〒104-0045 Higashi Theater Building, 4-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
1 minute walk from Exit 6 of Higashi-Ginza Station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line
https://www.smt-cinema.com/site/togeki/access.html

■Monument of Miyoshi-bashi Bridge
〒104-0061 1-28, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
1 minute walk from Exit 2 of Shintomicho Station on the Tokyo Metro Yurakucho Line